A PGA Member for more than 30 years, Mostyn Farmer was drafted in to join the Albany Golf Club team of Steven and Michael Long, George Liddiard and Nathan Willmott when the quartet qualified for the Regional Final at Araluen Country Club.

They arrived at the final hole with no option but to take George’s tee shot at the par-3 16th.

So nervous he mistakenly walked to the forward tee before realising his mistake, George stepped in and hit his shot to eight feet. He backed that up by draining the putt for birdie that would clinch their spot to a week-long celebration of golf at the InterContinental Sanctuary Cove Resort and Sanctuary Cove Golf and Country Club.

“That was all he did all day!” Michael asserts.

The 26 teams taking part The Scramble Championship Final in both the Mixed and Womens divisions spent Monday afternoon playing a practice round at The Palms golf course, readying themselves for Round 1 on Tuesday morning.

Nathan and Michael left their harvest of wheat, canola and barley early to spend a week playing golf on the Gold Coast while Steve puts his attendance midway through the harvest down to a sympathetic boss who is a “golf tragic”.

For most teams, such as the four farmers from Western Australia, being here is the greatest victory of all.

“We were like, ‘Let’s be honest, if we fluke it, we fluke it’,” Michael says of their win by 0.1 point at Araluen.

“We all played the day before and pretty much shot 100. We thought we may as well go home,” George adds.

Making their qualification all the more remarkable is that fact that when the four do swap the farm for the fairways, they play on sand scrapes at Tambellup and Gnowangerup golf clubs four hours south-east of Perth.

Nathan was married three days before the Regional Final at Araluen, but first they needed a PGA Professional.

Which is where the fifth Farmer comes in.

“I was the Adopt-A-Pro for the second Albany team at Araluen. They picked me up on the roadside on the way past,” Mostyn jokes.

“Country guys are always pretty cool. I did a lot of teaching in the country when I was younger. Normally if they like their golf, they like a drink as well.”

As the resident Professional at the host club at Albany, Michael Draper had the option to represent the club at the Championship Final but stood aside so that Mostyn could attend for the first time.

“I’ve come quite close. Maybe 0.1 or it was eighths-of-a-point back then,” Mostyn recalls of his near-misses in previous Scrambles.

“We had the same situation one year. One guy had to hit the drive on the last but he didn’t do quite such a good a job as George and he cold-topped it off the tee and didn’t get past the ladies.

“We ended up making par on that hole at Joondalup and missed by point-nothing.

“It’s great to get to the final and come and be part of all of this.”

So do any team members feel guilty about ditching the farm at the busiest time of year for a week of golf and functions every night?

“The conscience is clear,” George insists.

Round 1 of The Scramble Championship Final tees off at 7:15am Tuesday morning at The Palms golf course at Sanctuary Cove Golf and Country Club.

For live scores, visit thescramble.com.au.